Kerry says "we are not intimidated" by Islamic State beheadings

Monday, November 17, 2014 - 00:57

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tells a Washington foreign policy forum ''we are not intimidated, you are not intimidated, our friends and partners are not intimidated. ISIL is very, very wrong.'' Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

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ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the United States "will not be intimidated" by Islamic State following the beheading of another American hostage, Peter Kassig.
Islamic State issued a video claiming the killing on Sunday (November 16) and warned the United States they would kill other U.S. citizens "on your streets."
Speaking at a Washington foreign policy forum, Kerry called the death of the aid worker "a crime that we have condemned in the strongest possible terms."
(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY, SAYING:
"Aid workers and journalists, such as David Haines and Alan Henning, James Foley, Steven Sotloff. And now, in a crime that we have condemned in the strongest possible terms, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig. They have all been among those brutally murdered. And as those who have escaped have dramatically testified, women and girls are sold into slavery, threatened, raped, and treated like chattel. ISIL's (Islamic State) leaders assumed that the world would be too intimidated to oppose them. Well, let us be clear -- we are not intimidated. You are not intimidated. Our friends and partners are not intimidated. ISIL is very, very wrong."
The announcement of Kassig's death, the fifth such killing of a Western captive by the group, formed part of a 15-minute video posted online in which Islamic State showed the beheadings of at least 14 men it said were pilots and officers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Kassig, 26, from Indiana, was also known as Abdul-Rahman, a name he took after converting to Islam in captivity. His family has said he was taken captive on his way to the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Oct. 1, 2013.
The video did not show the beheading of Kassig, who previously served in the U.S. Army, but showed a masked man standing with a decapitated head covered in blood at his feet. Speaking in English in a British accent, the man says: "This is Peter Edward Kassig, a U.S. citizen."
The video appeared on a jihadist website and on Twitter feeds used by Islamic State